Stranger in a Mask
by ClaudiaKarlOWCA
Summary: This is a oneshot I did for the Zutara fans out there Hope you like it thank


This is the first theme for the 100 theme challenge I took. It takes place around the episode "The Tales of Ba Sing Se", and it's in Zuko's POV

Hope you like it

~ Mask ~

It's peaceful tonight; the roads are empty, as is the tea shop. My uncle is out getting himself something nice in order to celebrate the opening of the Jasmine Dragon. I'm sitting at a table, waiting for something interesting to happen and taking in the recent events of my life. Ever since uncle and I had come to Ba Sing Se, I'd been having these strange premonitions that things weren't done changing. I just want to know if it's for better or for worse.

My thoughts are interrupted by the sound of someone entering the shop. It's a messenger from the earth king, and I instantly tense up. _Did someone figure out that we're Fire Nation? We've been lucky so far, but luck hasn't really been on our side before. _I think in a rush. The messenger hands me a scroll and says

"The earth king requests the attendance of tea makers Mushy and Lee at his next divine party."

With that, he leaves.

_At least we aren't going to jail. _I groan inwardly, opening the scroll. It says basically the same thing the messenger did, that the earth king was throwing a big celebration and such. I only skim the scroll, not particularly interested in it. Parties had never been anything I had gotten excited over and to this day I still find them incredibly dull.

Uncle finally came back from the market a few minutes after I had received the scroll, carrying a small bonsai tree in his arms.

"Ah, Z… Lee, look what I found at the market. Isn't it nice? It will look lovely with the color of the kitchen."

"Yes, fine." I sort of mutter, still holding the scroll.

"What's that you're holding?"

"It's nothing important. Just some party the earth king is throwing."

"A party at the palace?" he suddenly gets excited and grabs the scroll. "Here, let me see."

I watch him read it eagerly and smile a little.

"The earth king would like us to serve our famous tea at the party tomorrow night. We must show up and look nice."

I sigh deeply, knowing that I can't change his mind. I didn't particularly want to go to this soiree, seeing how the only reason I had dance back home was because I was a prince, and it was expected of me. Here, I'm an Earth Kingdom peasant, and nothing is expected of me except serving tea to the upper classes. Still, I can't change his mind, so I would have to suffer in silence.

"Oh, and it's a masquerade party." He adds, grinning from ear to ear.

I close my eyes and shake my head.

Tomorrow night was going to be… interesting.

Night has fallen, and I'm out on the front steps of the shop, waiting for my uncle. My Earth Kingdom garb was surprisingly comfortable, and not as itchy as it looked. My simple mask restricted my vision a little, but not too much. Still, I didn't quite feel right in it. Uncle had made me comb my hair for the dance, but now that he wasn't here, I had time to fix it. Running a hand trough my hair, it brushes back into its usual, sort of messy, arrangement. I hear a sort of rattling noise as Uncle comes out the doors with a small cart that I know is full of assorted supplies needed for making tea.

"Let's go!" he smiles.

We make our way to the palace and give the guard our invitation. When we step inside, I feel my stomach do a flip. There are at least twice as many people as I had anticipated, all in masks. I see many people dancing and sort of cringe. I'm reminded of how, back in the Fire Nation, I was sort of a lady-killer. I had always been short of things to do, so I would go out with a girl once or twice, make her fall for me, and then drop her at a moments notice. Looking back on it, I'm not proud, but back then I had thought it all just a sort of game. Now, I tried to avoid romance as much as possible. Love is a waste of time for me, and it doesn't really get anything done.

"I have the tea under control," uncle tells me "you should go have some fun, ask a girl to dance, maybe. There are many lovely ladies here, at least one will say yes."

"Somehow, I don't see that happening." I mutter under my breath.

I didn't want to get involved with the crowd, or any girl, for that matter. I was through with toying around. I hadn't done it in a long time, and I wasn't starting now. The music continues to play as uncle and I serve tea to the crowd. The Earth King's Bear had a nice crowd around it, admiring the strange creature. Many others were either dancing or sitting at a table and eating. That's when it happens. The girl walks up to get some tea, and uncle instantly seizes the chance to get me on the dance floor.

"Hello, there. My nephew here has been admiring you for a while and he has a question he would like to ask you." he says, adjusting his green mask so that he can speak more clearly.

I mentally kick myself, feeling like a fool for letting this happen. I should've seen it coming.

"Oh, really?" she says, looking at me skeptically.

I recognize her voice, but I can't place it. Maybe I heard it in the market or something.

Glaring at my uncle, I ask her

"Would you like to dance?"

"Oh. Well, sure." She smiles.

She takes my hand and leads me to the middle of the floor. I don't even know where to start. I know many Fire Nation dances, but we're in the Earth Kingdom, so I'm completely lost. The music begins to slow, and the girl puts a hand on my shoulder and puts her other hand in one of mine. I timidly set a hand on her waist. She laughs a little.

"It's okay, I don't bite."

I almost smile.

We dance for a while, and then she accidentally steps on my foot.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm a terrible dancer, in case that wasn't obvious." She rolls her blue eyes through her mask.

"It's fine. That's something we have in common."

I swear I've heard her voice before and it's killing me not to know who she is.

"Sorry, have we met before?" she asks, taking the words right out of my mouth. "You seem familiar."

"I don't know, you seem familiar, too."

Then we stop talking.

We keep pace with each other in the dance for a while, and slowly our dance gets more and more elaborate. I twirl her around, she spins back, and we'll do it all over again. Some people stop to watch, others turn their noses up in disgust at how it's not a traditional Earth Kingdom dance. I don't care what they think at all, I'm more focused on her anyway. The song ends and we stop with one final flourish. I'm holding her suspended above the ground in a dipping pose of sorts. We've both broken a sweat, but that had been the most fun I'd had in a while. I hear clapping and I'm sucked back into reality.

"That was fun." The girl says, breathing heavily. "Thanks."

Her blue eyes meet mine and that's when I know that she might just be what uncle wants me to have. I get to thinking then. _She's fun, kind, but I can tell she has some sort of dark secret. I don't know but there's just something about…_

Then I stop. What am I saying? I've known her for all of ten minutes, and I don't even know her name, let alone who she really is. I'm acting like a child, and I'm anything but a child. I have to admit, she was a good dancer, and maybe romance wasn't as much of a bad thing as I had previously thought, but I certainly wasn't going to fall for her this soon into the game. I can see right through her ruse, and she's doing exactly what I used to. She's hunting my heart, and two can play at that game. I spin her around again as the music gets faster and faster, and she just goes along with it. We lock eyes the whole dance through, weaving around each other like viper-eels as the crowd continues to watch. I see uncle out of the corner of my eye and he's grinning like a madman. Again and again she and I try to show each other up and sweep each other off our feet, but we're equally matched. She would jump, I would catch her, she would spin and I would be the one twirling around her, matching her every footstep. The song ended and another began but we were too far into the dance to notice. When we finally finish, I'm holding her in my arms, her face inches from mine, and our eyes had not parted once. We breathe heavily for a minute before she says

"I didn't know you were a liar."

"What?" I reply, confused.

"You said you couldn't dance. You lied." She laughs.

I laugh too, and suddenly it hits me. I know who she is. She's the Water Tribe peasant that was with the Avatar. I can tell she recognizes me, too, because she suddenly gasps and whispers

"Zuko."

I just stand there as she breaks free from my hold and runs off. I don't know how to react. For a moment, she and I were friends, but in one black moment, everything had changed.

So this is how it felt to be torn._  
_I walk slowly back to my uncle, not saying a word. He lays a hand on my shoulder, and I can tell he knows. He had known the whole time, and now he knows what I'm thinking.

For a moment, I had loved her.

We make our wayback home and I sit in my room, thinking. I supposed that uncle had done this to show me a lesson. Was he teaching me that looks are deceiving, or had he given me a taste of my own medicine, and why now? Yes, I'd torn many girls apart, but that had been a long time ago. I had changed… Hadn't I?

Either way, I'd met my match, and that match happened to reside in Katara.


End file.
